When someone asks why we aren’t snowbirds and migrate to Arizona or California for the winter, Doug and I always reply, “We actually like winter.” Well, we had winter, have winter, and will continue to have winter as April approaches. With almost record snowfalls and no end in sight, we still like winter—perhaps just not so much of it!
     The male gophers are out, running around on the snowbanks. Apparently, the male gophers come out of hibernation first to stake their territories. Doug and I saw several hawks yesterday on our drive to High River—unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy the usual views of our beautiful foothills because of the fog, mist, light snow—pick your choice of late wintry conditions. Those hawks were scanning for gophers in their territories while the gophers were out trying to establish their territories. Conflicts in the non-human family as well as the human family are often about land!
     Back at home, between 50-60 common redpolls frantically feed at and under the two bird feeders on our back deck. Usually they have left by now—returning to more northern climates in preparation for summer nesting. The chickadees, woodpeckers, and nuthatches take their turns at the feeders. They all scatter when the blue jays and magpies move in. I’ve even been letting those big birds linger longer than I usually do before chasing them away—they too have had a long, hard winter.
     I know spreading seeds on the deck surface will draw rodents, but I do it anyway because not all the birds fit on the feeders. Besides, the rodents are already here—a brown squirrel, a black squirrel, and a black squirrel with a white stripe on its tail. They perform acrobatics in an attempt to get at the ‘squirrel-proof’ feeders if all the scattered seeds are gone. (Yes, I do know the difference between a black squirrel with a white stripe and a skunk—the latter may come up on the deck as well, I just don’t see it!) A weasel visits periodically, and a very large raccoon occasionally comes at night to tip the one feeder it can get to and drain it of all seed.
      A young mule deer just walked along the sidewalk in front of the den windows, paused and looked in at me as if to ask what I was doing, or maybe how much longer winter would last. We’ve had three to four mule deer permanently move into our yard this winter while a large number of others are seen in the ravine. The deer watch us through the walk-out windows when we’re downstairs. Our grandchildren have enjoyed face-to-face encounters with the deer—only the glass in the windows separate. It’s almost as if the deer are asking to be invited into the house. I watched as the deer first ate any bits of surviving perennials, then munched on the mugo pines, trimmed the dogwoods, and so on. I don’t protest because the deer are hungry, but I know I will be saying some choice words as I scoop up the pebbles they leave behind before, or when, I kneel in those flowerbeds.
      We haven’t seen the moose, but two of our neighbors report that the moose are on our back path and in our garden area. Last year we scooped up so much moose poop in the spring that when our daughter-in-law asked our granddaughter what she’d done at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s that day, she replied, “I found moose poop for Grandpa to shovel.” We also frequently reminded the grandchildren that although it might look like chocolate Easter eggs, those leavings definitely were not!
     I saw several flocks of starlings yesterday, picking up what food they could along the edges of the roads where snowplows had created a narrow band of clearing. Our bird houses are waiting to be cleaned—usually we do them no later than mid-March in preparation for the return of the male mountain bluebirds “to check out the real estate,” as my father used to say. I read that it’s actually the female who makes the final choice. That explains why I see the flashy mountain bluebird males going from bird house to bird house and not moving in until the females arrive. “Make a choice before the tree swallows arrive,” I have often thought, but I know it doesn’t work that way. Out of the twelve birdhouses specifically designed for bluebirds on the fence posts on our acreage, usually one or two have mountain bluebird nests; the rest are tree swallows. Between the birds and the brown bats, we don’t have mosquitos in our yard!
      You’ve probably figured out that the reason we haven’t cleaned the bird houses is that we can’t get to them. The snow is up to my knees—up to my hips in some places—and it’s snowing again as I write this Musing. I just hope the mountain bluebirds wait another week or so and that we have a slow, steady melt. The last thing southern Alberta needs is flooding.
     The weather forecast is for more snow. The good part—and there’s always a good part when it comes to Canadians talking about the weather—is that it wasn’t minus 27 degrees Celsius here this morning like it was at Wakaw Lake, Saskatchewan, where our cabin will be still hunkered down for winter.
     Happy Easter everyone even though it looks more like I should be saying Merry Christmas. I hope you don’t lose any chocolate Easter eggs in the snowbanks.

           Our internet was down for a couple days so I really do have an excuse for this late posting. When you live in the country, choices for internet are limited. So, we keep putting up with outages in the hope that some provider will expand internet service to our side of the highway. (The residents on the other side have more options than we do.) In the meantime, I spend many hours talking with the Technical Support Team of our current internet provider. Although the customer service people are very pleasant and try to help, often the problem is beyond their control to fix.
            Not only is our tower out of service, but, just before it went out of service, our emails started reloading again. Apparently what happened is that the messages were never really deleted from the server. So, in January, when we went into our email we had thousands of messages. First, we were told to manually delete them! The idea of manually deleting thousands of messages is ridiculous, but we started doing it to see what would happen. The problem was as soon as we deleted even a few, more were reloaded. Finally, after several calls and requests for help, a technician spent over an hour with me, and she was able to solve the problem.
            Now, the same thing has happened again, and our ‘deleted’ email messages from months ago continue to re-load. It would be funny if it wasn’t so bloody annoying. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Tech Support—no solution because first we have to regain connection to the tower before we can address the email issues.
            After that venting, let’s move on to a happier topic. February was heart month, and I am blessed to have family and friends who are dear to my heart.
            First heart story: Doug and I spent twelve days in Southern California where we enjoyed unseasonably warm weather—record of 32 Celsius/90 degrees Fahrenheit one day. Our granddaughter was with us for most of those days, and we helped celebrate her fifth birthday just a few days early. She knows the paths at the condo complex where we rent so well that she states, “Follow me Grandpa and Grandma, I’m the leader.”  Hmmm…this is an issue as all three of us want to be leaders so no followers. However, she usually got to lead! She liked jumping the waves as they rolled in and playing in the sand. We spent a day at Legoland where we had to take turns on the roller coasters with her. She was very annoyed on a ride where the operators wouldn’t turn us upside down because she’s too short. She specifically wanted to go on the ride so she could be turned upside down. Maybe next year….
           Second heart story: Most Fridays, our Calgary grandchildren spend the day with us. We enjoy watching them learn and grow. Last week we made ginger shape cookies. The challenge is to actually get the cookies on the baking sheet because they both love dough. It was warm enough in the afternoon that we played outside. The only problem was that the snow was so deep, it’s impossible to get to the playground. Then we tried tobogganing but the snow was too sticky. Thanks to Doug’s diligent shovelling and cleaning of the driveway, they were able to ride the tricycles.  
            I am very blessed to have caring family and friends. I appreciate that I’m able to do all the activities I enjoy, and even some domestic jobs that just have to be done. I’m also thankful for all of you who read my Musings. I will try to forget about annoying issues such as lack of internet service and appreciate all the good people and events in my life.
            As I post this note now that the internet is working again, the snow continues to fall. If March is here, can spring be far behind?